Will this "science fiction scene" come true soon by using unmanned aircraft to deliver express delivery?
Following the express delivery companies UPS, SF Express and Amazon, the Internet giant Google also announced at the end of August 214 that it had spent two years secretly developing a drone express delivery system, which Google called "Wing Plan".
however, in the eyes of some domestic express delivery peers, the test flight of unmanned aerial vehicle express delivery by SF Express and other enterprises is just a hype. For example, Deng Bin, executive general manager of Fengda Express, holds this view. He believes that for a long time, it will be difficult for drones to replace people to deliver express delivery.
Zhao Hui, a researcher at the Electronic Science Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Corporation, said in an interview with the reporter of Caijing National Weekly that it is now easy to transport a small number of lighter items with drones and fly point-to-point at close range. However, in order to build a UAV express delivery network and realize the large-scale replacement of human beings by UAVs, there are still problems such as improving the reliability of UAVs, developing a new generation of air traffic control technology and networking technology, and overcoming obstacles in policies and regulations.
Zhao Hui predicts that in Europe and America, it will take another 5-1 years for the prototype of UAV express network to appear, while it may take longer in China.
Google is ahead
Imagine that you open the window of your home and a drone just stops outside the window. You take down the items you bought from the drone, then take out your mobile phone to confirm receipt, and the drone slowly flies away to find the next customer.
or, in the afternoon, you will go to a teahouse to communicate with customers, and there happens to be a courier to deliver. You inform the courier company in advance, let the drone command center change the delivery route, and inform the drone to send the courier to the teahouse.
for the early appearance of this future scene, R&D teams of companies such as Google and SF are working hard.
"Google is the first company to develop a drone express delivery system. At present, Google uses the most advanced airborne platform in the process of testing drone express delivery." Zhao Hui said.
According to the take-off and landing and flight modes, at present, the aircraft can be roughly divided into three types: fixed-wing aircraft, rotorcraft (that is, helicopters) and vertical take-off and landing aircraft. The characteristics of fixed-wing aircraft are fast flight, low fuel consumption, but high requirements for take-off and landing runways; Rotorcraft (helicopter) has low requirements for landing sites and can hover in the air, but it consumes high fuel and flies slowly. Vertical take-off and landing aircraft can take off and land vertically when taking off and landing, and then fly in the air, and then switch to fixed-wing mode.
Zhao Hui introduced that Google adopts a tailstock vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle, with its tail touching the ground during take-off, and its fuselage standing upright. After vertical take-off and landing, it turns into a horizontal fixed-wing flight state through a slight rotation of its fuselage, which can realize low-cost and long-term flight.
Amazon and SF previously used multi-rotor aircraft (a type of helicopter) in the test flight, and the transportation cost was high. The experimental data show that the energy consumption of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters is four times that of fixed-wing aircraft when transporting the same weight.
"Multi-rotor aircraft are everywhere, and many domestic enterprises can build them; However, the development of vertical take-off and landing aircraft is more difficult. At present, only the Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute of AVIC has trial-produced vertical take-off and landing aircraft that can be used for civilian use. " Zhao Hui said.
A staff member of SF Express Brand Management Center, who asked not to be named, told the reporter that SF Express began to test the UAV project in 213, which was independently developed by SF Express, and the research and development work is still going on.
bottleneck
Dr. Luan Dalong, an aviation expert at Beijing Academy of Military Sciences, believes that there are still no mass-produced unmanned aerial vehicles with reliable performance that can be used for express delivery. UAV is used for express delivery, and its safety needs to be improved.
Zhao Hui also told reporters that the hovering VTOL aircraft is more suitable for express delivery drones, but at present, the reliability of this aircraft is not high, especially the wind resistance is poor. It can't be used in bad weather such as strong wind.
besides the need to improve the performance and safety of the vehicle, it is also very important to monitor the unmanned aerial vehicles in the air in real time. If the drones of SF, Amazon and other companies are flying over the same city, how can they be identified? How to prevent them from crashing or colliding? These problems need a new generation of air traffic control system to complete.
Zhao Hui introduced that the air traffic control technology currently adopted by civil aviation mainly adopts primary surveillance radar and secondary radar. In a large number of areas, the secondary radar sends out inquiry information, and the civil aircraft receives it and then responds. This air traffic control method is passive and can no longer meet the explosive development needs of the civil aviation market (including transport aviation and general aviation) in recent years, let alone monitor the flight of unmanned aircraft.
the core of the new generation air traffic control system is 4D track technology, which accurately describes the spatial position (longitude, latitude and altitude) and time information of each point in the aircraft track to meet the future air traffic management under the conditions of large flow, high density and small interval.
many countries and regions have begun to develop the next generation air management system.
In p>24, the European Union european aviation safety agency (EASA) launched the "Single European Union Air Traffic Control (SESAR) Plan", and it is planned to implement the 4D track air traffic control mode in Europe from 218. At present, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has also started the research on the next generation air traffic control system (NEXTGEN) for 225, and requires all aircraft in the United States to install the ADS-B system (broadcast automatic surveillance system) in 22, so that air surveillance can be implemented more effectively.
In China, the research and development project of the National High-tech Research and Development Plan (863 Plan) also includes the research and development of high-performance 4D track technology based on multivariate data.
after the 4D flight path technology is realized, the aircraft can exchange data through the air traffic control center to realize the networking of aircraft. Zhao Hui introduced that in the future, aircraft can exchange registration information, speed direction, and even information such as fuel quantity (or electricity quantity), cargo load, operation status, destination, etc. without even going through the air traffic control center, which will be more conducive to promoting the work of the UAV express network.
Zhao Hui introduced that Google is developing computer networking, car networking and driverless car technology. Among them, data link technology, that is, how to realize large-scale data transmission, is the key to research and development.
Luan Dalong believes that the lack of regulatory policies and regulations in China will also affect the development of drone freight. UAV express delivery belongs to the category of general aviation. In July this year, the National Air Traffic Control Commission issued the draft of "Regulations on the Management and Use of Low-altitude Airspace (Trial)". The regulatory policy of general aviation manned aircraft has not yet been implemented, and now there is the problem of drones. He lamented that technology has developed so fast that the formulation of national policies and regulations has failed to keep up with the pace of technological development.
Zhao Hui believes that when there are safe and reliable drones and effective air traffic control systems, it will not be a problem to introduce relevant management systems. After all these are available, the express delivery industry still needs to consider the cost of using drones to deliver goods. It can provide drone services for high-end customers or people who have special requirements for quick delivery, but then gradually popularize them.